Color words is an indispensable and important part in language culture。As a result of it,we have a colorful world 。As we all know,human life is closely related to the colors。 It is an important area to know the world。There exist a quantity of color words in both English and Chinese。 They express the same meaning in some sense, however, there are a number of differences as well。 Some color words differ greatly in meanings on account of different backgrounds of history and culture,geographical environment and religious beliefs。 Therefore, color words, to a certain extent, reflect the differences of Chinese and western culture。Because of these differences, it brings us a lot of inconvenience in cross-cultural communication。As a result, it is of great importance for us to know these cultural differences and learn how to deal with these cultural differences
2。Literature Review论文网
Because color words are regarded as one of the most frequently used words,experts from both home and abroad have a further study towards color words themselves,connotation and extensive research。In 1969,Basic Color Terms published by national scholar of America Berlin and language scholar Kay，which indicates there are 11 basic color in the system of color words, lays the foundation for the systematic study of language,and has a great impact on later researchers。It is of great significance in the field of color words。However,domestic scholars firstly pay more attention to the translation of color words and the comparative study of Chinese and English color words than the origin and category of color words。In this paper,based on the previous studies,i have the further discussion of the symbolic meaning of color words from the perspective of cross culture,and analyze the differences of Chinese and western culture from the six basic color terms。
3。Differences of color words between English and Chinese
In Chinese and English,the symbolic meaning and connotation have great differences。We should grasp these differences between Chinese and English and decrease mistakes and misunderstanding errors in intercultural communication。
3。1 Red
Red is the basic advocating color in China, and Chinese like it best。 Red is a color of sun ,and it is symbols of good luck, enthusiasm,luminosity and joy, so human beings like to decorate everything in red to create a joyous atmosphere in major festivals or special moments。 Taking typical Chinese wedding as an example, red is all over the Chinese wedding。The bride wear a red dress,red scarf cover and a red flower on her chest。 People put up a red “xi”word on the door of bridal chamber。 These bring happiness to the wedding and implies the meaning that their future will more and more prosperous at the same time 。In addition to this, at spring festival,people hang red lanterns, put up red couplets and red “Fu” character in the daytime, when it comes to night, people set off firecrackers and elders give red packets to children。 In addition, red is often connected with “success” and “triumph”, therefore, when people celebrate the opening of companies and enterprises, people often cut the red ribbon to express congratulation。 As we all know, the victory of the revolution is often in need of blood, and blood is red, so red is a symbol of revolution, such as red flag, red army, red political power, etc。 These expressions have Chinese typical feature。文献综述
In English, red also represents good luck and happiness, the westerners wears red hats at Christmas and Santa Claus dresses red clothes。In addition to that,such as, red-letter days（lucky days）, a red carpet reception (give people a warm welcome)。 However, the happiness red brings them is far less than that of China, or even opposite to China。Most of it represents danger, blood and disasters。 Red give people a dangerous and unstable feeling among the westerners’ consciousness, so red is related with war, blood and violence, for example, red hand(headsman），red revenge, a red battle。In a bullfight, the matador use red cloth to attract the cattle and let them get angry, so red has the meaning of anger, such as, see red (fly into a rage）, wave a red flag (do something that makes people angry）。Therefore,in the past,when westerners did not understand the cultural connotation China,they think China was a very cruel nationality because their crazy love of red。 In the business sector, when the stock 从六个基本颜色词来看中西文化差异(2):http://www.youerw.com/yingyu/lunwen_201129.html